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Posts: 2686
Location: Hayward, WI | I read an article the other day about fall fishing. It said that in the fall baitfish bunch up, and the muskies go to the bait to feed.
Makes sense, but doesn't it seem like articles like this are always geared towards fishing near tullibies or ciscos? The article said it doesn't matter if the bait is suckers, perch, ciscos, etc. but it focused on ciscos and tullibies.
So, if you feel like the suckers are what the muskies are going after, where should you look in flowages with stained water? I catch a lot of fish in these types of lakes right now and early in 3-6 feet of water. Are these fish sucker related, or are they going after the perch and other bait that is up there? I know where the walleyes should be, and have a good idea about perch, but I really don't know what suckers are doing at any time of the year.
I have seen them cruising shallows early in the season, but during the summer and fall I really don't know where to look for them besides rivers and streams. Where are they in lakes and flowages?
curleytail
Edited by curleytail 9/17/2007 10:34 AM
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Posts: 79
Location: S.E. Wisconsin | I know they spawn in the spring and are schooling fish, they are obviously bottom feeders that supposedly can survive in water with little O2, even though I cant seem to keep them alive for 5 min. In fall I would have to think they could be anywhere at anytime, I personally have seen them in the shallows in the early morn and just before dark throughout all seasons. Would love to have a aqua view to see what those clouds of fish are that seem to rise off the breaks at sundown???? suckers??? |
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Posts: 55
Location: SW Michigan | I doubt any seasonal migration studies have been done on suckers but it would be interesting. WATERDEMON pretty well nailed it. From my own observations they drop back in rivers into deep, dark, slow sections in fall & let the current carry food to them. In lakes & reservoirs they move into the basin & move up onto the feeding areas at dusk & dawn. In winter while panfishing, it's not unusual to see a school of suckers come through single file early & late. Same with the perch & other panfish, they always seem to be moving.
Now whether or not the predators are actually following & hunting the schools of suckers & panfish like they seem to with Ciscos & Tulibee or just ambushing them at strategic locations, I'd like to know that myself. |
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Posts: 2686
Location: Hayward, WI | Thanks for the replies guys. I agree, there doesn't seem to be much written about sucker patterns. Everybody says muskies like to eat suckers but nobody really seems to know much about fishing around them. I always wonder if the fish I catch in the morning and at night are going after suckers on the shallow bars and flats, or the other fish that move up shallow.
Would still be interested in any thoughts from others!
curleytail |
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | I could be wrong on this but I think suckers are relatively intolerant to poor conditions.....hence why you cant keep them alive very long.....Carp on the other hand, can and will survive a nuclear halocaust |
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| I don't know if there are many lakes that have such a large sucker population that the Muskys just follow only the suckers. Most of the lakes I fish in WI that have sucker populations don't seem to have schools of them. I think the Muskys just relate to the baitfish/panfish schools in the fall BUT WILL ALWAYS TAKE THE SUCKER IF IT'S AVAILABLE. They are such a oily high protein fish and with the small soft scales and fins they must be easy to swallow and digest===they seem to always take them. I fish Suckers all the time in the fall and I fish them around the baitfish/panfish schools I can find and have tremendous results with the Suckers. My favorite way to fish Musky and the big feed is upon us---Warm weather may slow things but within a week or 2 it will be on Big Time!! Let's see some pics of your Sucker Fish this fall. JIM |
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Posts: 299
Location: Nowheresville, MN | Demon has it, Pride doesn't. |
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| i have scuba diving friends who told me early in the summer on the Minocqua Chain, they found (and on more than a few occasions) walleyes in coontail and cabbage side-by-side with suckers. don't know how long that potential relationship lasts.
fisheries biologists have told me that on river systems, including impounded systems, suckers and redhorse will drop down from faster water habitats to slower water, usually pools, when water temperatures drop into the mid to low 50 degree F range.
but, fall sucker movements in natural lakes? no clue here! |
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Posts: 317
| Suckers do not tolerate warm, low oxygen water. They prefer current, as they are a riverine fish (like Muskies) Suckers do school and do move pretty regularly. They will follow the food like any other fish, and redhorse and white suckers prey upon minnows, nymphs, in invertabrates, and other small creepy crawlys. This is why suckers are found in weeds, over softer bottoms during nymph hatches, over gravel when crayfish and minnows are available, etc. Suckers will also school over a basin or offa break during down times, then migrate to humps and flats to disperse and feed during feeding times. |
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Posts: 2686
Location: Hayward, WI | Interesting info! I had a couple of my best nights this year on a big shallow bar when bugs were hatching so thick you could hardly breathe. Think there was a bit of a food chain deal going on there?...
curleytail |
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